


Finding the (right) words

by puzzlemon, Sabsab4ever



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Adorable Atem, Aged Up, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Angst, Artist Atem, Barista Yugi, Crushing, Fluff, Illustrated, Illustrations, M/M, Pining, Shy MC, Strong-willed Yugi, Unrequited Love, illustrated fanfiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:27:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22575541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puzzlemon/pseuds/puzzlemon, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sabsab4ever/pseuds/Sabsab4ever
Summary: Freelance artist Atem is preparing for an important exhibition but can't seem to find the drive to paint. No matter what he tries, inspiration eludes him and his deadline creeps ever closer. To sketch, Atem regularly visits his favourite coffee shop, and it is there that he meets a cute purple haired college student that immediately captures his thoughts. Inevitably though, the student finds out about Atem’s feelings and is less than thrilled. And Atem isn’t exactly what you would call a social butterfly so how can he convince his inspiration that he has no ill intentions?
Relationships: Atem/Mutou Yuugi, Mutou Yuugi/Yami Yuugi
Comments: 13
Kudos: 22





	1. "T-t-thank you."

**Author's Note:**

> So Puzzlemon came up with this amazing Coffee shop AU, and I suggested to give it a try to write. Which soon turned into a collaboration kind of thing. So we talked about it and formed this AU in somethig we both are hyped about! and we hope you all will be as well!
> 
> Drawing by: Puzzlemon (You can find her art on both her Instagram and Deviantart under the same name)  
> Written by: Sabsabs4ever  
> Edited by: Puzzlemon
> 
> We hope you will Enjoy the first chapter!

"I know, I know, Ishizu... The exhibit is close and you still need to see some progress of my work… I know that..." Atem said into his mobile phone as he walked through the streets to his favorite coffee shop The Hideout.

Atem hated that she had decided to call instead of just sending a text. He hated phone calls with a passion because you needed to reply quickly or you would appear rude and unlike a text you also couldn't read it over and over to make sure your reply wouldn’t sound weird nor offend the receiver. 

Ishizu probably knew that, she seemed to be able to read people perfectly, no matter if she knew them her whole life or she just met them. At first, Atem was a bit impressed by her talent as well as slightly freaked out when she could exactly tell what kind of person he was, but after a while it had become annoying as she continued to use this knowledge against him.

He had first met Ishizu a few months ago after he had received an email inviting him to participate in an art exhibit she was planning to hold, carried entirely by artists of different nationalities. The goal was to spread and let people embrace their different cultures, teaching others about the similarities between them as well as celebrate their differences.

Atem was honored to be picked as one of the artists featured in the exhibit and to have a chance to represent his heritage in art. To know Ishizu chose him from all the other Egyptian artist out there, caused Atem to jump up and down through the living room in pure joy until his best friend Bakura made him stop when it started to annoy him. Of course Atem had thanked Marik, one of his few close friends and Ishizu‘s brother, a thousand times for telling Ishizu about him and his art and making the participation in the exhibit even possible.

Atem had met Marik a year and a half ago at his and Bakura‘s shared apartment when Bakura had invited Marik over to play video games. Normally when people were over Atem would just paint in silence in his room as not to bother them and because one of the rules he and Bakura had made was to not play loud music while the other was home. They had set it in place to keep the peace as they both disliked the other‘s music taste, but that day Atem had a sudden inspiration boost. He had set up his easel, got one of the empty canvases, grabbed his paint and brushes and turned his music on because it helped him stay in an artsy mood.

He had expected Bakura to react to his 80's music blasting from the speakers with some heavy metal song from his collection, but when instead a tan guy with bleached blond hair burst through the door and started screaming along the lyrics of ABBA‘s Mamma Mia, Atem almost had a heart attack. His paint pallet dropped out of his hand right onto the carpet of his room and left a permanent stain that to this day reminded Atem of the first time he had met Marik. 

Once the blonde lost track of the lyrics, he screamed at Atem instead, _"Oh my gosh you listen to Abba too? We totally need to become friends!"_

Atem slowly turned the volume down as both the loud music and the loud screaming from the stranger became too much for him to handle. Once the volume was down he could hear Bakura chuckle before he called his friend back. 

_"Marik get back here so I can kick your ass."  
_ _"Don't be like that Fluffy! I want to talk to your cool roommate."  
_ _"No one is cool who listens to that crap."  
_ _"Hey, take that back… I listen to that crap too and I'm cool."  
_ _"I might take it back if you beat me."  
_ _"Oh you're on!"_

With that Marik left Atem alone and even more confused than he already was. No one had called him cool before, so it felt strange that there was someone out there who could think that.

After that day Marik had tried to interact with Atem as much as possible as he apparently really wanted to be friends. All the sudden attention made Atem uncomfortable at first, but eventually he got used to it and the three of them became a very unique group of friends.

"Atem you have been postponing these progress updates for months. You cannot push them back any longer, the exhibition is in a month and I need a finished art piece by then." Atem shook his head when Ishizu's voice brought him back to reality.   
"I know… I will send some progress as soon as I can. Sorry it's taking so long."  
"Alright, I will be waiting for news from you then." she said and paused for a moment before she spoke again. "Atem, you are a great artist. It would be a shame if you do not have a piece to present at the exhibition. So please try not to postpone it too much."   
"I will…"

Ishizu sighed before she spoke.

"Have a nice day Atem."  
"Yeah..."

With that Ishizu ended the call. Atem sighed as he put his phone back in the pocket of his jacket. He could still feel his heart beat like crazy because Ishizu had called him out for not doing his work properly. It wasn‘t that he hadn‘t started on it, over the past few months he had filled multiple sketchbooks full with Egyptian themed drawings. Sometimes he re-drew a piece or combined two or more sketches into one design. However it didn't feel right, something was missing and he couldn't figure out what it was. If only he could get inspired by something then he was sure he could finish his piece on time and make it look great.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down. Once he was calmer, he realized he was only one street away from the coffee shop. The Hideout was a somewhat hidden coffee shop, which was mostly known among the people who enjoyed visiting cozy and small coffee shops for a cup of coffee. 

Two years ago Atem happened to come across The Hideout, just after he had finished his newspaper round. He still remembered it like it was yesterday, the impression the owner Duke had left behind was one that couldn’t be forgotten. It was a cold morning in November around 7am, the wind was blowing heavily and the rain was pouring down. Atem loved the quiet morning walks he had while delivering papers, but if there was something he disliked about it then that was the bad weather and low temperatures he could be walking through during the colder months. He was already packed in completely, wearing two coats over one another, a thick fluffy white scarf with matching earmuffs and gloves. He wished he could have been able to wear a beanie too to keep his head protected from the cold, but due to his untameable hair that wasn’t possible.

He was shivering and all he wanted was a place to warm up. However not a single restaurant or coffee shop was open at 7 in the morning nor were any supermarkets or other stores, not even the lights in these shops were on. He had sighed and almost given up on trying to find a place to warm up when he spotted the light coming from a shop in an alley off the main road. Normally he would have walked past it, but since it was still dark and the light shone brightly it caught his attention. He took a deep breath and swallowed before he walked over to the store.

It was still closed according to the sign on the door and the one person inside, preparing for the day, had to be the owner, or maybe an employee. Atem chose to ignore his beating heart and his mind that was screaming that asking to get in to warm up would be weird when he knocked on the window of the door. He locked eyes with the man before he looked down to his sneakers. It didn’t take long until he heard the door getting unlocked.

 _“Hey are you alright?”_ he heard the man say, his voice sounded friendly.  
_“I… um… the weather…”_ Atem tried to speak but his non existent social skills and him shivering from the cold didn’t help at all.  
_“The weather is pretty bad isn’t it? Come in, I will get you something to warm up.”_

The man let Atem into the shop before he closed the door again. He then got behind the counter to make Atem something to drink.

 _“I haven’t been able to fill the coffee machines with beans yet, so I hope tea is alright.”_ He said as he walked over to Atem and gave him his cup with hot water.

The man then took a tea box from the counter and let Atem pick one of the flavours he had. Atem picked the hibiscus tea from the many tea bags in the box, a bit surprised that it was even in there, as herbal teas weren’t really that popular.

 _“I’m the owner, Duke Devlin.”_ Duke said with a friendly smile when he walked over towards a table and took a chair off it and placed it on the ground.  
_“Nice to… to meet you…”  
__“Have a seat and make you feel yourself at home. I’ll continue with the preparation for the day, but let me know when you need anything.”_

Atem only nodded before taking his seat.

_“Oh and don’t worry about the tea, it’s on the house.”_

The kindness Duke showed Atem that day made him want to come back to the coffee shop, which he did, after a week of collecting the courage to do so. Duke remembered him instantly and was once again very friendly and when he figured out the staff working there was just as kind and gave their customers a moment of escape from their busy and stressful lives, it made Atem love going there even more. Finally, the fact that few people came there made The Hideout the place to be for Atem.

Usually, Duke was the one who served Atem and brought his coffee, for which he was very grateful for. Duke was patient with him and always smiled kindly whenever he had trouble communicating. 

Atem walked off the main street and took a turn to the right. The Hideout was in an alley, which was shared with a tiny supermarket on the corner at the beginning of the alley. Atem walked further into the alley and stopped in front of the door from The Hideout. From the outside the coffee shop looked even smaller than it really was, but to Atem that made the place even more perfect. The shop had a big window you could look through, which had the logo of The Hideout centered on it to give a little more privacy. The brick walls were partly covered with ivy hiding the building from people who walked past on the busy street the alley was connected to, like it had been hidden from Atem before he first found it. The entrance was a single door made out of a beautiful ebony wood with a small window and on it hung a card that said 'Open' in a cursive handwritten font.

Atem entered the shop and immediately felt the warmth of the room engulf him alongside the strong aroma of coffee wafting through the air. Filtered light entered through the windows and dowsed the dark interior in a dim and romantic atmosphere. Behind the bar a man with a long black ponytail and a single earring of a die attached to a string stood, drying a few cups that had just come out of the dishwasher. He wore a black long sleeve shirt under a dark red apron, almost appearing brown. A name tag saying ‘Duke’ was pinned to the left side of his apron.

"Good afternoon," the black haired man greeted him right away. “The usual?” Atem nodded. Duke smiled politely before he started making the usual mokka coffee. 

Atem walked towards his usual table. It was the table in the back far away from the window seats. It was a square table for two but despite that the table was big enough for Atem‘s A3 sketchbook without it covering the whole table. 

Atem took of his oversized black, brown and olive green patterned jacket, revealing a band shirt with the ABBA logo on it and an unbuttoned denim shirt he wore on top of it. He hung the jacket over a chair that had a red cushion on top of it and took a seat before he began to unpack his sketchbook, pencil and eraser from his tote bag with an artistic quote printed on it in a subtle font and placed them neatly onto the table. He then put the bag next to him onto the floor.

He looked around the room, taking in all the details from The Hideout, trying to find something that could inspire him. It was cozy and mostly decorated in warm colors. The walls were painted in a warm red, the tables were made of wood in almost the same dark color as the front door and the chairs were black with either red or white cushions. Not all tables had chairs around them though, some of the tables had couches or poufs. The poufs were one of the details were dice got involved as those square poufs had dots on each side like a regular die. Other dice details included dice shaped mugs Duke had standing on the counter and customers could request to get their drinks in or the restroom signs which were a die with the respective symbol on it.

The coziness of the shop and the way it was decorated usually helped to get rid of his art block, but after looking around and failing to find something to get inspired by, Atem opened his sketchbook and decided to just sketch away and hope to get inspired that way.

“Good afternoon, I got your mokka coffee,” an unfamiliar delicate voice greeted from beside Atem. “I hope you’ll enjoy.”

Atem looked up from his paper and watched as his coffee was placed onto the table. His eyes wandered up the thin arm setting down his mokka along the fabric of a white sweatshirt under a brown apron that marked the newcomer as one of Duke’s employees. Atem’s eyes traveled further up over a barely exposed collar bone and a slender neck that was framed by soft looking purple curls. The pale neck carried a round face with seemingly perfect complexion encased by blond bangs on either side that looked weirdly similar to Atem’s own, though his own could never look so soft no matter how much conditioner he drowned them in. 

Right in the middle of the unfamiliar face sat a blond curl and led Atem to stare right into a pair of big beautiful blue eyes that caught the dim lighting and reflected it in purple sparkles all over the richly colored iris of this new barista. 

“T-T-Thank you” Atem stumbled over his own words when he realized he hadn’t replied for quite some time after unintentionally staring at the boy and didn’t want to come off as rude to a new barista.  
“Let me know if you need anything else,” the barista said and shared a friendly smile with Atem, before he left to help the other few customers, leaving Atem with nothing more than wide eyes, hot cheeks and the sweet aroma from his mokka around him.


	2. "I'm... um... good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello we're back with chapter 2! We also set a kinda deadline for the future chapters, which is every 2 weeks. This is the deadline we would love to meet, but if not possible it will be some times later. so its a kinda-deadline xD
> 
> Drawing by: Puzzlemon (You can find her art on both her Instagram and Deviantart under the same name)  
> Written by: Sabsabs4ever  
> Edited by: Puzzlemon
> 
> We hope you will Enjoy reading!

Atem got pulled back to reality when Duke tapped him on the shoulder.

“We close in half an hour.” He said with a friendly smile. “So if you want another drink then this is the last round to order one.”

Atem looked up at him and blinked a few times. He had no idea he had already been sitting there for over four hours, and honestly, he couldn’t even remember much of those four hours. 

“I’m… um… good.“ he said after a while.  
“That’s alright.” Duke shared a friendly nod with him before he left to tell the other few customers they were about to close.

Atem looked down at his sketchbook, only to find the same few sketches he had made before the new bartender had given him his mokka coffee. He was confused. If he hadn’t been drawing, then what had he been doing for all those hours? He knew that either the new bartender or Duke had asked him if he would like something else to drink and that he had taken some drinks, but how many? He had no idea.

Atem stood up from his seat as he tried to figure out what it must have been, but nothing different happened that day. Expect for the new barista, however he couldn’t be the reason why Atem has been spacing out. It must have been the stress or maybe the lack of sleep. Atem packed his tote bag with his art supplies before putting on his jacket and walked towards the counter. The new bartender stood behind the counter and had already started cleaning up, his apron lightly swinging back and forth around his hips.

"I… I would like… to… to pay," Atem spoke softly but the barista showed no signs of noticing him as he was standing with his back to Atem. while he put used cups into the dishwasher.

Atem swallowed, fully aware that the barista probably didn't hear him, and that he would have to repeat himself louder. He squeezed the sleeves of his oversized jacket between his fists while he tried to gather the courage to repeat himself. He could feel his nerves getting worse and his heart began beating faster. 

"I want to pay!" Atem repeated way louder than he had wanted and his eyes widened when he realized he practically shouted at the barista in a rude tone. His cheeks heated up and his nerves got even worse. He wished the floor could swallow him whole while he wrung the sleeves of his jacket between his fingers.  
"Oh, I'm sorry I made you wait," the barista turned around with a gentle voice and sweet smile, his curly bangs bouncing around his round cheeks. 

Atem was taken back by the kind apology, and lowered his eyes. It should have been him to apologize, not the barista he just raised his voice at. He felt the nerves die down a little but guilt entered his mind. He didn't deserve the kindness given to him at this moment.

"Are you alright? Do you want to sit down for a moment before I ring up your order," the barista asked when Atem was taking a while to reply.   
"I… I… Just… too much caffeine…" Atem lied, not wanting to admit that he was embarrassed and thought he didn't deserve such kindness.  
"We do have decaf coffee. We can have that prepared for you next time." Atem nodded. The barista collected his orders from the the pin board that was hanging on the wall behind the counter on the far left, it had all tables with its numbers displayed. Duke then joined the new barista behind the counter. He gave Atem a reassuring smile before he spoke to his employee.  
"Hey, Yugi is everything alright here?"

So Yugi was his name Atem thought, feeling his cheeks heat up slightly more while his eyes shyly followed the barista moving around behind the counter.

"Yeah, I'm just ringing up orders." Yugi replied confidently as he began to ring Atem’s orders up.   
"Alright, keep up the good work," Duke said turned to Yugi, before he disappeared behind the machines on the counter. 

It didn't take long until he stood next to Yugi again and placed a to go cup with hot water in front of Atem. He opened the tea box, got a bag with Chamomile tea out and put it in the cup.

"Do I need to ring that up too?" Yugi asked, but Duke shook his head.  
"No, it's fine. It's on the house." Duke said before he took a rag from the sink and left towards an empty table near the exit to clean it. 

Yugi nodded and continued with ringing everything up. Once the four mokka coffees Atem apparently had consumed, Yugi told him the price and Atem paid by cash like he always did. Paying with card was a scary thing, all the card machines worked different. Sometimes you had to put the card in the slot at the top, other times at the bottom. Then you had machines that could play contactless and some that were an older model and couldn’t be used that way. Just thinking of all the different ATM machines made Atem feel nervous.

"Have a nice day, I hope to see you again soon," Yugi said with a brilliant smile, and Atem could see the purple spots reflecting in his eyes again. He nodded softly and grabbed the to go cup before heading towards the door.  
"Take it easy and get home safe ," Duke said to him as Atem walked past the table he was cleaning.  
"Okay,“ Atem nodded and dared a small smile, before he left the shop and went back home. 

The walk towards the apartment building was a pleasant one, the sun was still up and the temperature hadn't dropped much. The trees were starting to get greener again and the flowers blooming in the fields just looked beautiful. Atem enjoyed looking around the streets as he took small sips of his tea until it was empty and he threw the cup away. 

After a fifteen minute walk Atem arrived at the apartment complex where Bakura and him shared an apartment. It wasn't a big building with only four floors and a total of 8 households lived there. The building was grayish and neither that modern nor brand new looking. 

Atem took his keys out of the pocket of his jacket and unlocked the door. He had to push against it to open it as due to its age the door sat tightly in the door frame. It was something the apartment complex owner still had to get fixed but continued to put off.

Once in, Atem got to their mailbox to check on their mail. There wasn't much in there, only some metal magazine Bakura was subscribed to. He took the magazine out and closed the mailbox again before he walked past the elevator towards the stairs and up to the 3rd floor. 

Elevators weren't Atem’s thing as they meant he had to do small talk with his neighbors when he happened to see one. Taking the stairs prevented him from that nerve wrecking social interaction. Bakura and Atem didn't really have good relations with their neighbors after all. After the sweetest old lady next door had left, new next door neighbors just came and went. They barely had any contact with Bakura and Atem though, after they had introduced each other every time new neighbors moved in. After that it were usually noise complaints that the neighbors rang their doorbell for. The rest of the neighbors didn't like them much either, except for that one woman from the first floor with the unique lifestyle.

When Atem arrived at the 3rd floor he walked towards the left door. It was painted in a dark blue and there was a ‘no cold calling’ sticker on it. He unlocked it, let himself into the apartment and closed it behind himself as he stepped into their apartment. 

He put his shoes off and hung his jacket on the coat rack that was hanging on the right wall of the entranceway. The walls of the corridor were white and had some of Atem's early paintings on there as well as some of his more recent ones. The floor was covered in a wood patterned linoleum.

As Atem walked further down the corridor, he could hear the heavy metal coming from the living room. The walls of the living room were white as well and the linoleum floor was the same as in the hallway. The kitchen was on the right hand side of the living room and was separated from it through a wall with a doorway leading into it. On the far side of the room, next to the door to their balcony, stood their black leather couch and chair, their TV with their game consoles and a coffee table. The walls were decorated with photos of Atem, Bakura and lately Marik as well that were taken throughout the years, each holding a special memory to either one or the both of them.

Atem found Bakura sprawling on their black leather couch reading the newspaper while sipping from a can of Monster Energy while some metal band was screaming and grunting lyrics Atem couldn't make anything out of. He was wearing black sweatpants, the waistband of his neon green colored underwear being visible above the waistband of his pants. On top he wore a blue sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off and the word King written on it in white letters. He wore two different kinds of brightly colored socks and a black beanie on his head.

Atem walked towards the stereo player that stood on a shelf in a closet that held all of all their video games and DVDs, which stood against the wall next to the door to their balcony. Without any hesitation he turned the music off, getting Bakura's attention in the progress.

"You know, you could have asked me to turn it off,“ he said to Atem looking over his newspaper.  
"It's too loud for me to be able to do that."  
"Then just use your voice and speak louder."  
"Or listen to your noise at a lower volume," Atem said as he walked towards the coffee table that stood in front of their couch and threw the magazine onto it. "Your magazine got in."  
"Finally, I've been waiting for the damn thing to arrive for a while now. These daily newspapers bore me to death."

Bakura took the last sip of his energy before he put the empty can onto the table. He closed his newspaper and threw it next to it.

"Did you get that inspiration problem fixed? You stayed out longer than usual. Normally you’re here before I get home from that hell called work."

Atem sighed as he dropped his bag on the dining table and hung his denim shirt over the back of a chair before he walked towards the black leather chair on the left side of the couch and plopped down onto it.

"No I didn't. Honestly I don't even know what I did those hours. All I know is I've been sketching and then a new barista served me." Atem said as he leaned into the chair and let out a sigh. "Normally new things would help me get out of my art block in some way."  
"I'm sure you will get there. You got over way bigger things than that. For example that hellhole of a business university."  
"You always like to bring that up, don't you?"   
"Well, that‘s because a small art block is nothing in comparison to getting rid of the study you bloody hated! That place was basically hell on earth, it’s a wonder we got out alive."  
"Maybe." 

Atem closed his for a moment. Bakura was right, the university where they met four years ago was a place that didn’t make him happy, and if it wasn’t for Bakura helping him realise that, he would have ended up back in Egypt with a job he didn’t even want. The words he had heard back then were harsh from time to time but he had needed them. It was the harsh way Bakura worded things that ended up bringing them closer and helped Atem get a bit more confident and less awkward. Or at least around his close friends.

“But I don’t want to let Ishizu down. She has emailed me beginning of March about the exhibit. It's already May and I got less then a month left for the deadline. And what do I have? Absolutely nothing!” he said, throwing his arms dramatically into the air before letting them fall to his side again, making Bakura chuckle.   
“Believe me you won’t. Just get that stupid brain of yours to think positive of your abilities.”  
“Right.”

Atem let out another sigh and stood up to get his sketchbook and drawing supplies out of his bag. Bakura made it seem so easy to just get more confidence in his art, but how could he when he had been suffering from an art block for such a long time. He wanted to show off his homeland the best he could but nothing worked out the way he wanted it.

“I’m serious Atem. You’re the best artist I know.”  
“I’m the only artist you know.”  
“True, but you’re facking talented when you do that magic with your oil paints. Besides, Ishizu chose you from how many other Egyptian artists out there, so that must mean something? Assuming she knows what she’s doing.” Bakura said as he stood up and walked into the kitchen that was hidden behind the other side of the wall where the dining table stood.

Atem took his drawing supplies into his hand and let Bakura’s words sink in. He knew he was right, Ishizu had chosen him as one of the artists that would carry her exhibition. Which said a lot since she knew what managing events was about and so she must have seen potential in him. But still he had this feeling of doubt in the back of his mind that didn’t seem to want to leave any time soon.

“Shouldn’t you cut down on the energy drinks?” Atem asked the moment he heard the fridge getting opened and slammed closed, followed by the sound of a can of energy getting opened.  
“It’s just my second can since I got home,” Bakura said as he came back into the living room.  
“When did you get home?”  
“Around 5.30pm.”  
“So this is your second can within an hour...” Atem said after a quick glance at the clock on the wall. “That’s pretty unhealthy.”  
“It has vitamins in it.”  
“Like that’s going to make it less unhealthy.”  
“It does.”

Bakura walked back to the couch, Atem watched him as he laid down. It was always interesting to see how Bakura would end up on the couch, as he has quite an unique way of sitting down on furniture. In all of Atem’s life he never had met a person who sat down on a sofa like his best friend. At first Atem thought it was weird, but later on he began to use his friend as a model. After all, what's a better anatomy practice than drawing your friend who sat down in ways you‘d think are completely insane.

Atem took a seat on the chair and opened his sketchbook before taking in Bakura’s position. His best friend was lying with his back against the left armrest, he held his magazine in his right hand that was slightly resting on his chest. His other hand was holding the monster energy drink of which the bottom was touching their leather couch, something Atem didn’t want Bakura to do, and still tried to get him to stop doing, and Bakura’s legs weren’t on the couch at all. They just hung from the side off the left half of the couch.

“Don’t you have to go deliver pizzas tonight?” Atem asked Bakura as he sketched the first few lines.  
“I called my boss and told him I was sick, so I got the evening off, thank goodness. Those clients at the call center tired me out. They are all so rude and annoying, I think I hung up on people at least six times today. One of them even called back and asked my colleague to put her through to me because the woman wasn’t done with me. I had to listen to her annoying high pitched voice ranting for like half an hour at least. If this job didn’t pay that much, then I would have left already,” Bakura replied not bothering to move to face Atem. 

Atem rolled his eyes, of course he had called in sick. It really shouldn't surprise him by now. Bakura was a full-time part-timer and had at least two different jobs at all times. He also didn’t care much about either of them as he would easily find another job in no time as he knew how to talk himself through every interview. That attitude resulted in him having lots of past jobs he either got fired from or quit himself and many experiences to go along with them.

"You still shouldn't call in sick when you're not. Your colleagues count on you, so it's unfair to pretend you're sick."  
"It's fine, I just told them I got a fever and stomach ache."  
"And you want me to cover up for you when they call to check again?"   
"Precisely."

Atem gave him a look. It wasn't the first time he was forced into covering for Bakura. He hated to do it as it was considered lying and he had to reply as quickly as he could. He was bad at lying and the fact that it had to be done through the phone, made it even worse. Bakura always assured him it was fine though and that he should just see it as some form of improvisation practice.

"You should really stop doing this. You know how much I hate lying... And phone calls."  
"It's fine. Don't worry too much about it. They probably won't call tonight, it's been awhile since I last called in sick."  
"Right… just promise me to go to work tomorrow night."  
"That depends on how I get home from the call centre. Besides, I have to make it look believable, normally people are sick for more than one day."  
"Of course. But just go back to work as soon as possible. You will lose your job over it." 

He should have expected an answer like that but he wasn’t going to force another discussion about it today. Bakura always stayed home "sick" for at least a few days before going back to work to make it believable. Atem had hoped he would just quit with it, as this would eventually cost Bakura his job once his boss would find out about it.

Atem continue drawing in silence, looking up at Bakura and back to his paper every once in awhile to make sure he was drawing him perfectly. He had tried to talk sense into Bakura so many times but it never really got through to him. He just did what he felt like when it came to his jobs and some other stuff he did. Atem tried to let it go as much as he could, and started to tell himself that's it was alright as long as Bakura was able to pay his half of the bills at least and would be able to help Atem when his own income wasn't enough, as Atem did for him as well if he ever needed to.

"Hey Atem," Bakura said after a while not looking up from his Magazine. "Are you done with the lines for your sketch? I'm starving and I wanna grab a snack."

Atem took a good look at his sketch before he looked back up at Bakura, taking in all his details once more and then looked back to his paper to make sure he had everything he needed.

"I got everything."   
"Great."

With that Bakura sat back up and put the magazine on the other half of the couch. Despite living with Bakura for years, he still got surprised every time when Bakura got up without trouble from whatever position he had a while ago. Bakura then stood up and walked towards the kitchen. A few seconds later Atem heard him open the fridge and then the clanking of bottles and cans as Bakura was going through the fridge looking for something to eat. "Urgh, there is nothing to eat." Bakura complained before he shut the fridge.

Atem looked up from his drawing and turned towards Bakura who now stood in the opening of their kitchen. 

"Have you eaten already?" He then asked.  
"Uh, yeah?" Atem Answered hesitantly and Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Alright…,” Atem caved in, „I guess I forgot about it."  
"Okay, we're ordering Pizza."  
"Didn't you call in sick? You can't order pizza."  
"I'll just order from a competitor. That I work at Domino's doesn't mean I order their expensive ass pizza, I only take their leftovers for free."  
"Right..."  
"So what do you want on your pizza? Or do you want me to pick something for you?"  
“I’ll pick the toppings myself. Just give me your phone.”  
“Sure,“ Bakura walked over to the chair Atem sat in and plopped down on the armrest, before he gave his phone to Atem with the website of New York Pizza open, a small pizza place in their neighborhood. 

Atem looked at the options and put the things he wanted together. He had picked a cauliflower pizza base with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, feta cheese, spinach, onion and olives. Bakura scoffed once he got his phone back and had taken a glance at Atem’s order. He stood up from the chair and let himself fall onto the couch as he tapped on his screen multiple times.

“You’re not changing my order, are you?” Atem asked, even though he already knew his friend was exactly doing that.  
“I’m just changing some things. Why would you put spinach on pizza? Doing that should be illegal.”

Atem sighed before he stood up to sit at the dining table and work his sketch out with line art and aquarelle. “Just promise not to add too much meat onto it, you know I don’t eat a lot of that.”

“I can’t promise anything.” Bakura answered not looking up from his phone.

Atem shook his head as he placed his sketchbook on the table and took a black fine liner package and his aquarelle paint set. He worked on the drawing until the doorbell rang and Bakura came back into the room with two pizzas after answering the door.

They both sat down on the couch with their pizza boxes. While Atem sat up straight, taking up around one third of the couch, Bakura was lying down, one leg pulled up and the other draped over Atem's lap. His pizza box was placed on a pillow, he leaned his elbow on the armrest, with his head in his hand. Atem placed his box onto Bakura's leg, holding the bottom with one hand to balance it and using the other to open it.

"I told you I didn't want so much meat," Atem said as he looked down at his pizza that was covered in mozzarella, union, olives, chorizo, chicken and pepperoni.  
"There were too many vegetables on there. You need the vitamins and minerals that aren't in those vegetables."  
"You do know that's nonsense, I'm doing fine with eating only a little meat." he said as he leaned almost completely over Bakura, so he could drop most of the chicken, pepperoni and all the chorizo he had picked from his pizza onto Bakura's already meat filled pizza. 

It wasn’t that Atem didn't eat meat or fish at all, he just tried to keep it to a minimum and chose to eat meat replacements instead. It was something Bakura did never understand and never would as he was someone who couldn’t live without it. 

Bakura didn't force Atem to eat meat, however whenever he heard that Atem hadn't eaten at all yet he would get something with meat for him as he was under the impression that the fact Atem didn’t feel well due to forgetting to eat and the fact he barely ate meat and fish were related. Atem had tried to tell him otherwise many times, but Bakura didn't want to listen to any of it.

Once Atem had dumped most of his meaty toppings onto Bakura's pizza, he shoved Bakura's leg off his lap and stood up. He walked into the Kitchen with his pizza box in his hands, and put it onto the kitchen counter before he opened the fridge. He took out some arugula lettuce, cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese to replace all the picked off meat of his Pizza. He closed the fridge and placed the ingredients onto the kitchen counter, taking a cutting board and a knife from one of the kitchen cabinets that were under the counter and cut up the ingredients before he added them onto the pizza.

He got back to the living room after putting the ingredients he hadn’t used back into the fridge. Atem took his seat next to Bakura again, who in reaction placed his leg back onto Atem’s lap.

While Atem had been gone, Bakura had turned on ‘Kitchen Nightmares‘, a tv show they both enjoyed watching even though Atem thought the trash talking was unnecessary, and would often comment on that fact whenever he thought things went overboard.

"Don't you think he is too harsh to the chefs?" Atem asked when they were only five minutes into the TV show and Gordon Ramsey already was deep into slurs and insults about how badly cooked the dishes were.

"Well obviously not, when you've been complaining about how it looks and how it got prepared too. They deserve it. You’ve seen it yourself, that dish is facking floating in grease."  
"Yeah but still, there must be a way to get it through to them without all the cursing . Like he could just explain things properly."  
"I know you feel like that Atem, but those people are too facking stubborn and stupid to proper talk to them."  
"At least he could try before all the insults. The program would be way more enjoyable to watch that way."  
"I don't think many will agree on that. Most people watch it because of the cursing."  
"Those kind of people are stupid."  
"And stupid people are the kinds to have the most fun." Bakura answered before taking a bite of his pizza. "It will get less eventually, and then your favorite part with the whole makeover and all will come. But for now I'd appreciate it if you could shut up because my favorite part where Gordon and those chefs and owners trash talk each other is coming up."

Atem rolled his eyes and continued to eat his pizza in silence, so Bakura could enjoy the program. Eventually the part that Atem watched the show for got its turn. Gordon had set up a completely new menu with amazing food that suited the concept of the restaurant. He loved to see all the different dishes as he often used them as inspiration when cooking himself. He also liked the fact that the trash talking had gotten less by now.

they both had finished their pizzas once the TV show had ended. Atem stood up and took both carton boxes and threw them in the bin they had specifically for carton only. It was Atem who cared about recycling trash and who had gotten them different bins for carton, plastic and household trash. He also made sure to collect glass and chemical garbage separately. Bakura didn't really see the purpose of doing that much, but eventually got used to it after Atem had told him many times to put the trash in the right bin.

Atem took a look at his drawing on the way to the kitchen. Once he had thrown the pizza boxes away Atem went back to the dining table, grabbed his aquarelle paint brush and filled it with water at the kitchen sink. When the brush pen was completely filled, he grabbed some paper towels and went to take a seat at the table. The lineart was completely done and the sketch lines of his gray pencil had been erased. 

He opened the aquarelle paint box and dipped his brush onto the light blue color. Then he held his brush above the paint pallet that came with the set and dropped a few drips onto it to mix it to the right light blue color of Bakura's shirt. When the color was the right shade Atem dipped the brush into the watery paint and brought it to his drawing to color it in.

When working on art Atem usually forgot about the time and this drawing of Bakura was no exception. Atem took his time with the colors, neatly colored between the lines and waited patiently to let the paint dry properly before adding a darker color for shading. That way even a simple drawing like this, could take hours until it could be considered done.

"Are you keeping an eye on the time?“ Bakura said after a while. “It's almost midnight, so I'm going to bed.“   
Atem heard him get up and glanced over his shoulder, "I will go in a few minutes. I only have to add the highlights, my signature and the date of today."  
Bakura shrugged. "Suit yourself. Good night then."  
„Yeah, good night,“ Atem answered and turned back to his drawing when Bakura left the living room.

Atem finished off the last few things and looked over his finished drawing once more, wondering why the piece for Ishizu’s exhibit couldn’t progress this smoothly. Having some sort of reference for it would do wonders, just like sketching Bakura always did, but if Bakura ever even triggered memories of Egypt in Atem they were of all the bad things that he had helped Atem leave behind and not of the things that Atem still loved so much about his home country. 

He picked up his palette and brush and wandered to the sink to wash them off. If only he could find something or someone to spark that old joy in him that Atem used to feel having the breeze brush over his skin on a hot summer day or the coarse sand under his toes when he used to play outside as a child, he wouldn’t have such a hard time remembering all the good things at all.

He leaned the brush and palette onto the counter to let them dry over night and collected his fine liners back into their box before putting his pencils and erasers back into his tote bag so he wouldn’t forget them when he would inevitably go out to The Hideout again tomorrow in hopes of finding something to inspire him. 

The last thing Atem thought of before flicking the lights in the kitchen and living room off and making his way back into his room was whether that new barista Yugi would be in again. Atem allowed himself a small smile, the young boy seemed nice despite Atem being such a mess and maybe having a new person wandering around his favorite coffee shop would help give Atem that spark that he so desperately needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We hope you enjoyed reading the first chapter!  
> Feel free to let us know what you think of it!
> 
> Until next time!


	3. "I... I paint."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two weeks has past and so here we are with a brand new chapter! Thank you all for the comments on the last chapter as well as the Kudos we've gotten on our fanfic! We really appreciate it and sure encourage you to keep letting us know what you think of the fanfic! 
> 
> Drawing by: Puzzlemon (You can find her art on both her Instagram and Deviantart under the same name)  
> Written by: Sabsabs4ever  
> Edited by: Puzzlemon
> 
> We hope you will Enjoy reading!

The following day Atem woke up at 8am as early as always. Still in his pyjamas, a pair of red long pyjama pants and a black t-shirt with a white 'Dancing Queen' written on it and a white long sleeved shirt under it, he got up and blinked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. It was an old shirt that Bakura once accidentally put in the dryer causing it to become too short and unwearable in daily life, but he just couldn't bring it across his heart to throw it away.

He tiptoed from his room towards the living room in his scapegoat slippers, not wanting to wake up Bakura who would only be waking up at least three hours later to get ready for work. His best friend was a light sleeper and, to put it lightly, he didn’t appreciate it to be woken up before 11am.

Atem yawned as he walked into the kitchen. The kitchen linoleum floor had a dark brown wooden straight lined pattern instead of the zigzag like pattern linoleum floor in the living room and hallway. The walls were painted in and were tiled with hexagon tiles in a dark turquoise color and the counter matched with the dark wooden floor and laid on top of mint green cabinets.

Atem walked towards the counter at the back of their kitchen, turned on the electric water boiler, grabbed a tea cup from the middle cabinet that hung above the kitchen counter and placed it on the counter. He then went to the fridge that stood in the left corner and was built into a mint green cabinet. He opened it and took some fresh mint from it before he put it in a large tea mug. He then opened the cabinet that hung left from the one in the middle and took out honey. Once the water was boiled, he poured it into the mug and squeezed some honey from the bottle into the hot water. He then grabbed a spoon from the drawer of the cabinet, put it into the mug and stirred the mint tea as he walked towards the dining table.

He placed his tea on the surface of the table before he took a seat and reached out for his sketchbook that was still opened on the page with the drawing of Bakura he made yesterday, the aquarelle paint having completely dried. He closed the sketchbook and reopened it on the first page before browsing through all the pages that were already filled with his art, hoping he would get the inspiration he was so desperate for. Atem blew on his tea to cool it down before taking a sip as he looked at one of the landscape drawings that he had made of the pyramids with a beautiful sun setting in the background.

He placed a hand onto the image, softly letting his fingers go over the page. It was one of the few drawings of the past month he had colored, as he had seen potential in it. However once he had finished coloring it, it felt like something was missing but he couldn't figure out what that missing piece could be.

He missed Egypt a lot, he missed the beautiful landscapes, the markets and the warm sun. He missed the few friends he had to leave behind when he emigrated to America for his study at the age of nineteen and he missed his parents too, but he was afraid to go back and see them again. It had been five years already, five years in which he hadn't seen them and three years in which he hadn't had any contact with them. He knew they loved him and that they wanted the best for him. That was why they wanted him to take the same career path as them: they wanted him to be sure to have an easy life with a stable job. But having a job in business would never make him happy.

He still remembered the last time he had spoken to them, but it wasn't a pleasant memory. It was a few weeks after the summer break, during which he had dropped out of university after he had finished his second year. His parents had gotten in contact with the school, as they hadn’t gotten any invoice for his third year yet. It was then that they had heard that Atem had dropped out and contacted him immediately.

He had been working on his very first commission in the living room as the lights were better there than they used to be in his room. Bakura was lounging on the couch drinking energy and eating some snacks while watching a crime show. Everything had been peaceful until his phone rang and 'mom' written in Arabic appeared on the display. Atem had picked up hesitantly and gulped before answering the call. It was the phone call he had dreaded since the moment he stopped with his study, and that fear really wasn't unfounded. The call was a heavy one.

There was lots of screaming from his parents side so loud that Bakura was able to hear them despite the phone not being on speaker and even though he wasn't able to understand any of it as the full conversation was in Arabic, Atem knew that Bakura could easily guess what it was about as he knew Atem's situation.

Atem had tried to explain to his parents that business would make him unhappy and making art was the career that he believed he could make money in. He tried to tell them that he had just gotten his first commission and that he was sure he would be able to get more in the future. However instead of getting a "congratulations, we’re proud of you and we support you", his parents had called him a fool for thinking he could make a living with art.

Atem had tried to stay strong, but the tears were on the edge of falling as he defended his life choice and belief that he could be a successful artist. This only made his parents more furious: they screamed at him that he had changed, that he was a disappointment and that he had become too westernized before they had ended the call.

Atem had cried for a long time afterwards, feeling useless and unwanted. He never wanted to be seen as a disappointment to his parents, all he wanted was for them to support him and to make them proud.

The first few days after the call he had been debating on calling them back, telling them he was sorry, that he was wrong and that he would change back to the son they knew and he had almost succeeded in doing just that, but the moment Bakura had walked in from the kitchen with his energy drink and heard Atem starting a conversation in Arabic while looking like a puppy that gotten hit, he had rushed over to him and taken his phone.

_"You two are disgusting, treating your own son like some piece of trash. It's your kind that makes me hate people!"_ Bakura had yelled into the phone. _"It doesn't matter who I am, and no, you won't get Atem on the phone. Goodbye."_

Although Atem didn't show it then he was glad that his best friend had stood up for him. If he hadn't, he most likely would have given in to his parents wishes. But despite that it gave him a lot of stress. He had feared that his parents would fly over, force him to go back to Egypt and guilt trip him that he was indebted to them for being such a disappointment.

Once he realized they didn't plan on doing that though, as many weeks had passed by without any sign from his parents, Atem felt his heart sink. It felt like his parents had abandoned him and that the only way to get their love again would be by an apology, begging for forgiveness and the promise that he would go back to study business management. It was this kind of manipulative strategy they had always used on him since he was a kid and he hated it. It made him feel worthless and trapped.

But despite all that he still loved them and missed them almost every single day and there was nothing that could change that. This important project had made him realize that even more.

Wet drops landing on the back of his hand brought him back to reality, only now realizing that silent tears rolled down his cheeks. He bit down on his bottom lip and swallowed down the lump that had gotten stuck in his throat. He wiped the tears away with his hands, while pushing the thoughts of the relationship with his parents away to the back of his mind again.

He took a deep breath after he had closed his sketchbook. It wasn't the time to worry about the past and despite the project being related to his roots, it wasn't an excuse to get back down the same depressing lane of thought, feeling like you're not good enough. He had moved on from those feelings and he didn't want Bakura's encouragement and help to feel better about himself, and to follow his dreams to become a well known artist, get to waste. He needed a distraction and leaving the apartment was the best thing to do at the moment as the place was related to the phone call of that fateful day. He put the sketchbook into his tote bag and drank the last bit of his mint tea. When the mug was empty he threw the mint away in the right bin and put the mug into the dishwasher.

He then got into his room to get changed into a grey knit sweater with dark red threading that was rolled up at the sleeves, and underneath it a long white shirt. One side of the knit sweater was tucked into his grey jeans that had a red inlay and were folded up at the bottom. Once he was changed he went to the bathroom for his daily morning routine.

The bathroom walls were white and were tiled with rectangular blue tiles from the floor up till one third of the wall. Only at the left corner in the back it was completely covered with tiles for the shower, which was parted from the rest of the room through two faded glass walls, one of them a door. Next to the shower hung a few hooks on the wall that both Bakura's and Atem's bathrobes hung on. On the left side of the room was the toilet and on the right side were two cabinets with a built-in sink. Above the sink hung another cabinet that had mirror doors.

Atem brushed his teeth around two minutes before he opened the cabinet and took the products out he used for his morning routine. He first cleaned his face with a cleansing oil, then used a toner and a serum before adding his moisturizer. To let his facial features stand out in a subtle way he put on some primer, followed by his foundation, contoured his face and finally added some eyeshadow that was a little darker than his skin tone.

And last but not least he used a hair cream that was supposed to help repair dry and damaged hair. It was one of the many products he had tried before to get his hair under control. This product seemed to help but Marik, who recommended it to Atem, wasn't really satisfied with the results it brought. Marik was learning to become a hair stylist and so had way more experience and knowledge about hair than Atem could ever hope to have. He had taken on Atem’s untamable hair as his personal project, and Atem hoped Marik would eventually find a product suitable for him that would give him anything but the constant bed hair look with the split tips that he now had.

Once done with his routine he headed back to the dining table to grab his bag. He then tiptoed over through the corridor and put on his jean blue chucks and jacket before he slowly closed the door behind him. Outside he put the keys in his bag and headed for the stairs. He walked down to the first floor and headed towards the door. He tried to pull the door open as best as he could, but it didn't give in. He heard some footsteps coming his way causing him to pull harder as he really didn't want to have any awkward small talk.

"Groovy mane, fella! Real pimp," a female voice greeted him from behind.

Atem slowly turned around, as his brain tried to figure out what the woman had just said to him. The woman now in front of him was one of their neighbors that lived on the first floor, she was wearing a pair of light green flare pants, brown birkenstocks, a crop top with long wide sleeves covered in a rainbow pattern and a matching rainbow bandana in her red hair. On her nose rested a pair of big round green tinted glasses, and hanging on her ears were a pair of rainbow colored dreamcatcher earrings with matching feathers attached to them. Around her neck hung a long light blue necklace decorated with small tassels and peace signs and around her wrists she had some colorful bracelets in all kinds of colors imaginable.

The woman called Debra sure was unique when it came to her lifestyle and the way she spoke. Ever since day one when Atem first met her he thought of her as some weirdo that got brainwashed by the 60's. There was no way she was old enough to have been there herself when hippies were a thing as to him she looked even younger than he was.

"Uh… Thanks…" Atem said awkwardly, still not knowing what she had even said.   
"No sweat, gooseberry," Debra replied before walking towards her own mailbox and opening it.

Atem just stood there as he watched the colorfully dressed ginger checking her mail. Atem would like to think that after five years in the US he would be fluent in English, but encounters like this really made him doubt his ability to speak the language. Was it slang? He had no idea, all he knew was that he couldn't process what she said and that it was like a completely different language.

She didn't seem to be bothered at all with the fact that he never started a conversation with her nor the fact he probably looked confused whenever words left her mouth. Fortunately he didn't see her much or was mostly able to avoid her before she started a conversation, but whenever she did she would always say some strange greeting.

And there also was this thing where she would nickname the people she just met. She had told him and Bakura that when she brought some rainbow cupcakes over as a welcome gift the day they moved in. It was then that she called Bakura marshmallow much to his dislike and named Atem a gooseberry, and until today Atem still had no idea what that even was.

"Catch you on the flip side," Debra said after closing her mailbox before walking back towards her apartment as she threw Atem a peace sign while walking away.

Atem shook his head as he tried to figure out what this conversation had even been about. Coming to terms with the fact that he would never understand what had just happened, he turned back to the front door and pulled at the doorknob. He let out a sigh of relief when he finally got the door open and was able to step outside.

He took his time to get to the Hideout as he wanted to clear his mind a bit through the cool morning breeze, but it was also so he wouldn't arrive too early at the coffee shop. Once he got there it was a few minutes past opening. Atem felt a little awkward about being the first one to arrive at the shop but eventually just stepped inside as waiting in front of the entrance would be considered even weirder.

"Good morning dear, can I get you anything?" A blonde woman behind the counter greeted Atem. She was wearing the same brown apron Yugi wore, under it she wore a long sleeved lilac turtleneck and in her ears a pair of big ring earrings that almost reached her shoulders.

He couldn't remember seeing her before, so she had to be a new employee just like Yugi was. He tried to remember if she was there the day before, but all he could remember was that he might have seen some blonde woman walking around. However he wasn't completely sure about that.

"Would you like to have a drink?" The woman said, pulling Atem back from his thoughts.   
"A uh… hot chocolate…" Atem named the first thing he spotted on the menu signs that hung above the counter as his mind blanked because the new barista didn't seem like someone with lots of patience to him.   
"Coming right up, dear. Go take a seat I will bring the drink to you once it's done." She smiled at him friendly before she began to make his order.

Atem quietly walked towards his usual spot in the back. He had hoped that Duke could have been there to take his order as he knew how he liked his coffee. But this new employee didn't know that and the fact she called him dear only made him feel more uncomfortable, which had resulted in him ordering a drink that he didn’t like. Sure, Atem liked chocolate but not as a too sweet warm liquid. He took his stuff out from his bag and signed, he felt a bit frustrated with himself that he didn't dare to tell the woman that he had made a mistake and didn't want the hot chocolate.

When all his drawing supplies were on the table, his jacket was hanging over his chair and he had taken a seat he heard the clicking of a pair of heels getting closer. Atem looked up and saw the blond walking towards him with his drink. Below her turtleneck she wore a short black skirt that was slightly longer than her apron, her legs were bare and her feet were covered by platformed black stilettos decorated with silver colored rhinestones on the platform and heel, that at least 18 cm high.

"Enjoy your drink," she said with a smile. Atem nodded before she walked back to the counter.

However on her way she got stopped by Duke who had his arms crossed. Atem couldn't really hear what it was about but he guessed it was about the way the barista dressed as Duke eventually referred to her bare legs and shoes with his hand movement, a moment later the blonde was removing her earrings before heading to the back. A few minutes later she had gotten back wearing black skin tight leggings under her skirt, instead of flashing her bare legs.

Atem looked back down to his sketchbook and opened it on an empty page. He picked up his pencil and moved it around his fingers as he tried to come up with a subject to draw. He spun his sketchbook 45° degrees so it ended up lying vertically in front of it and then began to sketch out a landscape.

The horizon was high in the image and most of the space was filled with a river and Egyptian water lilies. On the left side of the drawing was some land along with a village in the distance. In the bottom corners were some other plants and flowers, making it look like the viewer looked through the plants at the river. Atem had placed the sun low like it was about to rise up.

The door had been opening and closing every once in a while, as a few more customers entered the shop. Atem looked up whenever someone got in as that pulled him out of his creative bubble, but he would quickly get back to his drawing afterwards. However when the door opened and closed this time, his eyes landed on Yugi. The barista was wearing black jeans and a ripped Jean jacket. He had a laptop covered with stickers under his arm and a black backpack hanging on his left shoulder. He seemed to be in a happy mood, which caused Atem to feel the need to smile as well. Atem’s eyes followed the barista as Yugi greeted the blonde and Duke, before he got to the back. Atem stared at the back door as his hand grabbed his drink. He took a sip, swallowing it quickly before making a face of disgust as he got reminded that this wasn't his usual mokka coffee. He placed the cup back on the table and focused on his drawing once again.

"Hi, I want to apologize for last time," a familiar voice said, causing Atem to look up. It was Yugi. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to catch on to your nervousness. At the Hideout we're supposed to make everyone feel safe and comfortable. Obviously I failed in doing that yesterday. I promise in the future I will be able to make sure you're feeling comfortable."  
"It's… It's alright…" Atem said shyly.

He hadn't expected the barista to apologize. He wanted to tell him that there was no need for him to apologize as Atem viewed the situation of the day before to be his fault. But no other words beside "it's alright" left his mouth.

"Mai told me that you haven't touched your drink for quite some time." Yugi continued, now eying the full cup. "Is something wrong with it?"

Yugi waited patiently for him to answer instead of repeating it like the blonde barista, Mai did. It gave him a more comfortable feeling, the same comfort Duke had around him.

"I… I ordered the wrong thing…" he said, his cheeks turning red.

Atem couldn't help but feel stupid that he had ordered the wrong drink, which just happened to be something he didn't like at all. If it had been something else than hot chocolate he would have been able to drink it too.

"Don't worry! I will get something else for you. I assume you would like to have your usual drink?" Yugi smiled friendly at him.

Taken back by the kind reply, Atem nodded. He hadn't expected the barista willing to change his order so easily when the reason why wasn't really a valid reason, or at least it wasn't to Atem.

"Alright, coming right up!" Yugi said this time flashing a smile at Atem that showed his teeth, and Atem was sure he saw the purple sparkles in Yugi‘s eyes again. "I'll be back in a moment."

With that the barista took Atem’s cup and went towards the counter. Atem's eyes followed him as he got behind the bar, asking Duke something before he got to make Atem's coffee. He probably had asked what his usual drink was. A few moments later he came walking back to the table and placed the cup down.

"There you go."   
"Thank… you…" Atem said as he looked down at the cup.

Atem had thought that Yugi would leave once again when he had brought his new drink, but instead he stayed. Atem looked up at him, noticing he was looking at his drawing.

"Wow, that looks amazing!” Yugi said with awe in his voice. He leaned down a bit to catch a better look at the drawing, “You sure are creative!" He tilted his head for a moment and then looked up at Atem flashing a brilliant smile, "Sorry I haven't caught your name before?"   
"Atem… my name… it's Atem."   
"Atem?“ Yugi repeated as he stood upright again, “Atem… Atem…" Yugi let Atem's name roll off his tongue a few more times trying to get the right pronunciation of the foreign name. This caused Atem's cheeks to heat up and made him feel all fluffy on the inside. "Alright, Atem,“ Yugi said with a smile, more confident now, and with a hand to his hip, “So you're an artist?"

Atem nodded with a small smile on his lips, that Yugi returned with a friendly one.

"That's amazing, what kind of art are you specialized in?"   
"I… I paint… Oil paintings… Mostly landscapes and nature… sometimes animals."   
"That's pretty cool. So you're making a landscape? It already looks wonderful."   
"Thank you… It's far from done though…" Atem said as he looked at his own drawing before he began to point at different sketches lines with the back of his pencil as he explained what it will become. "I… I got most lines set out…, but the details are far from existing… Those cycles here will become water lilies and the squares here will become a village. The circle here will become the sun and I plan on making it look like a sunrise."

Atem wasn't that social to other people, but there was one subject he could talk about for hours if he wanted to. And that was his art and explaining the whole progress behind it.

"Oh… I'm sorry… I'm rambling too much…" Atem said looking up to where Yugi used to stand, once he realized that he had been talking for a while now.

He wasn't there anymore. Atem could feel his heart sink as this was just like with his parents. They would either cut him off or simply walk away whenever he started a conversation about art.

"Please go on." Yugi said, pulling Atem's attention in front of him. He had taken a seat at his table.

Atem stared at him for a moment before a small smile appeared on his face and he continued to tell Yugi about all the things he still needed to draw and the details he needed to fix while sketching them with his pencil on the paper.

Yugi watched him draw for a long while, nodding, smiling and asking all kinds of questions, and Atem barely felt time pass, even when Yugi got up a few times to tend to another customer. But he always came back to listen again, until eventually the store cleared out as it reached 6pm and Atem slowly packed up his things, paying for his drink with Yugi and saying his goodbye to the purple haired barista.

“Please come again! I‘d love to hear more about your art!” Yugi said with a broad smile, his bangs falling in front of his face when he cocked his head as he gave Atem his change. Atem nodded. He looked down at the coins in his hand and a smile tugged on his lips. He dared look up at Yugi again, the softest blush on his cheeks, “I… I will. Thank... you.“ Yugi gave a single nod, and Atem turned around to walk out of the store, tugging his change away and dragging his sleeves over his hands. There was the fluffy feeling again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading Chapter 3!  
> We hope you enjoyed reading! feel free to let us know what you think of it! 
> 
> Until next time!


	4. "Oh no. No, no, no."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took a little longer then the former chapters took to be posted but we present chapter 4!  
> Because of various circumstances like exams and a generally busy time, we decided to pause the fic for a bit. It will come back though, rest assured!
> 
> Drawing by: Puzzlemon (You can find her art on both her Instagram and Deviantart under the same name)  
> Written by: Sabsabs4ever  
> Edited by: Puzzlemon
> 
> We hope you will enjoy reading!

Atem started his morning like any other at 8am. He had a cup of fresh mint tea to wake up properly before doing his morning routine of his skincare, haircare and brushing his teeth, after that changed his pyjamas for an old dark blue sweatshirt without sleeves, that he had gotten from Bakura because there was a huge unwashable alcohol stain on it. Under it he wore a gray sweatshirt, the sleeves of which you could pin up by the elbows. His hair and middle bangs were tied together in a ponytail, around his wrist he had a few more emergency hairbands in case the rest of his bangs were getting annoying. The jeans he wore were old gray jeans that over the years had ripped at the side seams and had lots of holes in general. To keep his feet warm he wore his scapegoat slippers.

A few days had passed since Atem had last visited the Hideout and had spoken with Yugi about his art. It was the first time he had been able to talk to someone who wasn’t Bakura or Marik more confidently. Even though it was about a subject he was comfortable with, he was still proud of what he achieved and the fact that he had known Yugi for just two days made that feeling of pride even greater.

He had enjoyed the time spent with the barista and he hoped to get back to the Hideout soon, as he wanted to see Yugi again and maybe have a chat once again. He wanted to witness the kind and warm smiles Yugi gave him, he wanted to hear his voice and see those beautiful purple sparkles in his bright blue eyes. However the deadline when he had to turn in his painting was getting closer and so he really had to start painting. Because of that, he couldn’t afford the time to hang out at the Hideout for a full day. Maybe he could manage a short coffee break, but he didn’t trust himself with leaving right away as time seemed to fly by when Yugi was around him.

“Why didn’t I specialize in acrylics,” Atem muttered to himself. If it was acrylics or watercolor or some other paint that was easier to handle,he would have had more free time to go relax at the Hideout and get to know Yogi better.

He set up his easel and then got his canvas from under his bed. Stashing canvases under his bed was a habit he had had for a long time and couldn’t let go of, mostly because of the fact that under his bed was the best place to store them. Having found the canvas he needed he put it on his easel, it was a 80x60cm canvas with his idea already sketched onto it. Originally he had wanted to pick a canvas twice the size that he had settled for now, but due to running out of time, his oil paints taking up to 12 days to dry made it impossible to finish on time. He took a step backwards and looked at the horizontally placed canvas, the sketch lines on it were still light and didn’t have many details yet.

Atem had decided to paint the same landscape he had sketched out at the Hideout. This particular landscape he had drawn many times, so he figured it would be best to stick to that. He had hoped that it would be an easy job to get it sketched out, but once he had taken over the complete sketch from a few days ago it wasn’t even close to his liking. Something was missing and he didn’t know what. He had tried many things over the past days, rearranging the flowers, changing the perspective, adding in more leaves and erasing them again before he eventually turned his canvas from vertical to horizontal. He looked at it thoughtfully, rearranging the sketch in his mind. He let out a sigh as he couldn’t figure out a better placements and decided to just go with what he had now: a horizontal zero point perspective that mainly focussed on the water and the Egyptian water lilies.

He took his glass pallet and paint out of the cabinet with drawers that was placed on the right side next to his drawing table. He placed his pallet carefully on top of it and added the colors in the following order: Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Indian Yellow and Bright Red. He planned on coloring the sunrise first. He really took his time when painting as he was quite the perfectionist with his own paintings. He always wants it to be the way he imagines it to turn out, when that wasn’t the cause he would keep trying until it did or just discard the whole canvas and do it all over again.

He took his brushes, a big cup and the bottle with rosemary oil out of the drawer. Instead of rosemary oil, he used to use turpentine to clean his brushes and to thin out the paint with. But the smell was horrible, it caused him to get headaches and he didn’t like how his hands smelled like it for at least a few days after using it. After realizing that he had looked online for something else to use, and figured out that rosemary oil can be used for that purpose too and wasn’t unhealthy to breath in, unlike turpentine. He tried it out with his next painting and from then on he used rosemary oil.

He filled the cup with the oil and then placed it on the wooden shelf that was attached to his easel. Next to it he placed all his brushes. He picked up the pallet and then got back to his canvas taking one last look at it before he dipped his brush into the Cadmium Yellow paint and mixed it with the Titanium White. He then thinned the paint out a bit before he stroked the brush onto the canvas without turning any music on. He hadn’t heard any sign of living from Bakura’s room yet, so he figured it was best to keep everything down. He didn’t want to get into a fight with Bakura for waking him up with Abba or any other 80’s artist.

He let his brush go over the space he had reserved for the sunrise in the sky. After giving it a nice coat of light yellow, he took some of the Bright Red color and added it, mixing it up with the yellow and softening it out. The other colors followed soon after, either in the color they came out of the tube or mixed with at least one other color. Once he had colored the whole sky he took a step back of and looked at the freshly painted sunrise.

Looking at the painting he could feel his spirit sink. The sky was nothing like he had imagined it. The blending wasn’t as smooth as he would have liked, the red paint was still too bright compared to the yellow in the sky. And the sun wasn’t white enough and so it didn’t pop out of the sky. Why was it so difficult to make it look like he wanted it to be. He wanted a beautiful sunrise, not the mess that he had created now. His painting had to be perfect and right now it was far from it. It discouraged him to continue, made him want to just lay down as a blanket burrito in bed and stare at the ceiling.

The fact he didn’t know what to do with the foreground of the image wasn’t any help either. He continued to stare at it. It didn’t do good to his confidence in his art at all, but he just couldn’t help himself. He just stood there looking at the freshly painted sky, brush and pallet still in his hands as the time passed by. He got pulled out of his own bubble when the loud bang of the front door sounded through the apartment, causing Atem to let go of his paintbrush which landed on the floor right next to the paint stain Marik had caused two years ago.

“Oh no. No, no, no.” Atem stressed as he quickly placed his pallet onto his drawing table and rushed out of his room towards the front door. “Not again…”

It wasn’t the first time Bakura had stormed off, after the neighbors accidentally had woken him up when he was still asleep, many neighbors before had to deal with that whether it was because of a dog, an alarm, someone drilling in the wall, music being a little too loud or talking too loudly. All those reasons were valid for Bakura to complain to the neighbors while behaving like a maniac.

Atem never blamed the neighbors for it, after all Bakura could easily sleep in until the late afternoon and the sounds that caused Bakura to wake up were normal sounds of someone living in an apartment. He also believed that Bakura’s outbursts were one of the main reasons why their neighbors moved out so quickly after moving in. The set record by one of their former neighbors was four months, usually they would already leave around the first or second.

Atem sighed as he stood in front of the front door, he could already hear Bakura’s yelling from outside. He hated those confrontations with the neighbors, having to fix the mess Bakura caused with his rudeness.

Taking a deep breath he grabbed his keys and opened the door. He stepped outside and turned towards the entrance of their neighbors. There was Bakura standing in only his neon with panther print boxers and blue slippers screaming at the owners of the tiny chihuahua. One of the neighbor’s was trying to push the door shut but Atem soon noticed Bakura was preventing them from doing that by adding more pressure against the door.

“You should learn how to control that ass dog that can’t shut up when normal people are trying to sleep!” Bakura yelled as he pressed harder against the door.

Not wanting Bakura to actually hurt their neighbors or their dog, Atem rushed over to him grabbing an arm and began to pull. Bakura didn’t move at all from their neighbors doorstep. Atem tried to get more weight into it, but there was no success.

“No Bakura… it’s okay just-”  
“Let me go.”  
“It’s just a dog. It did noth-”  
“A dog created by Satan you mean.”  
“Let’s go back inside.”  
“Not before I’ve shut down that dog.”

Knowing pulling Bakura by the arm didn’t have any effect, Atem grabbed Bakura’s waist with his right hand and the waistband of his boxers with his left because there was nowhere else to grab onto. Pulling even harder while putting his weight into it, he tried to pull Bakura away. Again with no success as Bakura didn’t give in. For someone who’s diet was basically pizza and energy drinks he was pretty strong.

“Let’s go… I don’t want you to get in trouble… please…” Atem practically begged.

It was then like Bakura’s anger got turned around 180° degrees. He gave in, making it easier for Atem to pull him away from the door. Atem apologized to the neighbors but that was probably never heard as the door had shut the moment Bakura didn’t block it any longer.

“Was that necessary?” Atem asked his best friend after noticing he had flashed his middle finger to the neighbor before they had shut the door in their face.  
"They obviously deserved it." Bakura said, crossing his arms as he let Atem drag him inside their apartment.  
“You know they probably will be moving out by the end of the month.” Atem told Bakura in a matter of fact before he let go of his best friend and dropped him on the floor. Bakura gave him a look which Atem just ignored as he turned his back to Bakura.  
“That would be a dream come true. Then I don’t have to deal with that pathetic dog.”

Atem closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. He then walked towards his room, stopping in front of the door and looked back at Bakura who was still sitting down on the floor.

“I had just hoped that you would be able to behave better by now…” he said before he opened the door and went inside.

Once he closed the door, he took a moment to relax. He didn’t like interactions with his neighbors in general, but those kinds of confrontations were the ones he hated the most. He never really knew how to react towards people that were upset directly or indirect towards him.

He wished Bakura was able to behave himself better and keep his anger under control. Of course his anger issues had become less over the years, but sometimes there were still situations Bakura couldn’t control himself and ended up in huge trouble.

Glancing back at his painting Atem still didn’t feel the spark of inspiration he usually would have when working on a painting. It was getting frustrating but he knew he couldn’t let his art block win, he had to go on hoping the inspiration would come along eventually.

He walked towards his nightstand where his CD player stood and turned it on, he pressed play and the ABBA Gold CD that was in the player started to play the first song, Dancing Queen. Now that Bakura was up Atem could play his music in the background while painting. Maybe ABBA would do good and give him some inspiration, or at least it made him more productive with painting.

He grabbed his pallet and took his place behind the painting again. He dipped his brush into the paint and began to color the image as he moved along to the music.

Time apparently had passed as Bakura opened the door of Atem’s room and walked inside. Atem had noticed him almost directly as the colder air from the corridor got into his well heated room. Bakura had set down a can of energy and a cup of mint tea on his drawing table. In the meantime Atem had turned the volume of the CD player down.

“I noticed you haven’t gotten out of your room for anything to drink or eat. You should take better care of yourself.” Bakura said as he leaned from one foot to the other. “I got you some tea and I’m warming up yesterday’s leftovers.”  
“Thank you.” Atem said as he walked over to his drawing table and put his pallet on the far left corner. He then turned to Bakura and smiled sheepishly “I think I’ve forgotten the time once again.”  
“Like you always do when you get all artsy. I know you longer than today, Atem.” Bakura chuckled.  
“Yeah, that does happen quite a lot… I’m lucky I got you around.”  
“Precisely.”

The conversation died down after that

“Is it alright if I sit here with you? Or do you rather want some time on your own with your painting?”  
“Of course you can sit here.”

Bakura gave a relieved smile in return.

“I’ll get the food out of the microwave.” he said the moment the beep went off that signaled their food was done.  
“Alright.”

Bakura left the room for a moment before he got back holding two plates of food. He switched Atem’s plate with his energy that was on the drawing table and then took his place into Atem’s bed. Atem himself took place behind the drawing table. On his plate was the dish he had cooked the evening before, Thai pineapple fried rice. It was a vegetarian recipe he had found online on a food blog.

Atem always was fascinated by the way his mother cooked and so had gotten an interest in cooking. Unfortunately he had never been taught to cook as his parents norms and values believed that the kitchen is the place for women. Despite his parents’ view, he had asked a few times if his mother could teach him to cook traditionally Egyptian but she had told him he shouldn’t worry about learning how to cook because once he married a beautiful woman, she would be the one taking care of the food.

Of course, once he moved to America and had an apartment of his own, he found out how much he enjoyed cooking. He enjoyed looking up recipes, trying new dishes and adding the ones he liked a lot to his folder. All the colors and the ways that you could present food, that was a form of art to Atem and he loved it.

Bakura on the other hand was only able to use the microwave, reheating leftovers or making food that needed to be microwaved like those disgusting microwavable hamburgers and hotdogs from the supermarket.

“You seem to be a lot happier these past days.” Bakura said before he stabbed a piece of chicken and placed it in his mouth, whenever Atem cooked vegetarian he made sure his best friend’s dish had some meat added to it.  
“Happier?” Atem asked as he raised an eyebrow, before taking a bit of his own dish.  
“Yeah, ever since you got back from that dull coffee shop you always go to.”

Atem rolled his eyes when Bakura insulted his favorite coffee shop. He knew that it was Bakura’s way to let it be known that the Hideout totally wasn’t his thing. He had visited the shop once with Atem but Bakura disliked almost everything about it. The main reason being there was no Irish coffee on the menu.

“You mean the Hideout, and it isn’t dull.”  
“Of course it is dull, they didn’t even have Irish coffee.”  
“It’s a coffee shop, not a pub. They don’t sell alcoholic drinks.”  
“I think they should. More people would come drink there.” Bakura said before taking a sip of his energy.  
“Right. I don’t think that drink would fit their concept.”  
“That’s their loss then." Bakura scoffed. "Back to topic, I still didn’t get an answer for why you seem so happy lately. Is it that new barista you talked about before?”  
“You mean Yugi?” Atem answered. His eyes widened and his cheeks heated up when he realized he had spoken out Yugi’s name for the first time.

Bakura looked at Atem, raising an eyebrow as he took a sip of his energy drink. Atem noticed Bakura giving him a look however he didn’t understand why he raised an eyebrow at him. He decided to just brush it off.

“Uh… Yeah…” Bakura drawled, “I don’t know his name but if that’s the barista you talked about before, then yes that’s the one I mean. Like this Yugi guy seems to have some effect on you.”  
“What do you mean by that?” Atem asked not understanding where this was going. “What does Yugi have to do with me being happier? What kind of effect do you think he has on me?”

The fuzzy feeling from a few days ago reappeared once again, causing his blush to deepen, only confusing him more as he hadn’t been able to figure out what that feeling was and why it only appeared when he thought about, spoke of or saw Yugi.

“I don’t really know if this guy is the reason for you being in a better mood, but you’re acting like a facking ray of sunshine lately. Did something happen there?”

Atem looked down at his plate as he thought about what possibly could have happened that made his mood become better. The only thing he could think of was the interaction he had with Yugi. Those thoughts, for some reason, caused his heart to speed up.

“Yugi was interested in my art the last time I was there. He actually sat down from time to time to watch me draw, so of course I’ll be happier when someone else is interested in my work…” Atem answered as he played with his food.  
“I see… Well, it seems like he helped with your progress. You’ve started on your painting.”

Atem looked back to Bakura who was looking in the direction of his painting. He then looked at his painting too, he had painted less than he had wanted as he kept ruining the sky and so had been working on only that small part for the whole day. That fact just made him frustrated with himself and de-motivated to continue.

“Not really... I’ve been painting the whole day and that hideous sky is all I have…”  
“It looks pretty to me, what’s so hideous about it?”  
“A lot! The red in the right corner doesn’t blend neatly, that mixed orange color is too light, the yellow near the sun is too bright and the sun itself is not bright enough. Oh and don’t get me started on whatever that dark orange and red blob is in the left cor-”  
“Alright, alright, a lot is wrong with the sky I understand. I’m sure you can make it better.”  
“I hope so. I want it to be perfect, but all I have done the past few days is change and hate this piece of trash.”  
“It’s not trash, Atem.”

Atem gave his best friend a look. He knew he meant well but right now it just felt like Bakura was saying this only to cheer him up and that he didn’t mean any of it. Bakura didn’t have much interest in art, the only art he had seen was Atem’s and since he was his best friend there was no way he would mention any negative things in his paintings.

“Okay, gosh.. fine.” Bakura said and rolled his eyes. “It’s trash. But I’m sure you can make it look beautiful.”

Atem looked back at his plate. Maybe Bakura was right, perhaps he could make something beautiful out of it. However right now that felt like an impossible task.

“How was work?” Atem asked before taking a bite of his food. He didn’t want to talk about his art anymore.  
“The call center was as annoying as always, and tonight with delivery it will be too. It’s Friday night so lots of pizzas will be ordered. I wish I could just skip but Bunny has already texted me insane to make sure I’ll be there tonight and expects me to actually work this time, can you believe that?”  
“I guess he would have a good reason to say that, you shouldn’t let him do all the work. What time does your shift start?”  
“7:30pm.”  
“And what time is it now?”  
“7:15pm.”  
“Shouldn’t you be leaving then?”  
“He can wait, a bit.”

Atem rolled his eyes. He really felt sorry for Bakura’s colleague, as Bakura just loved to mess around with him. He called his colleague Bunny and hearing all the stories Bakura shared, he enjoyed making the shifts of his co-worker a living hell.

“Right. Do you always have to mess around with him?”  
“He can handle it, it’s just to pass the time, you know?”  
“No, not really." Atem said as he grabbed his mug and took a sip of his tea. "Just don’t make him wait too long…”  
“I’ll be going in ten minutes.”  
“And don’t get in trouble.”  
“I won’t.”

Atem heard Bakura get up from his bed, he figured his best friend must have been done with eating dinner. Atem turned towards his best friend the moment he felt Bakura’s hand on top of his head. Atem leaned towards the touch as Bakura ruffled his hand through Atem’s hair, causing some of the hair that has been held together by a hair elastic to get loose.

“Good luck with your painting.” Bakura said before he removed his hand from Atem’s hair. “I’ll be getting ready for work now, so see you tonight.”  
“Thank you. See you later.” Atem said with a small relaxed smile.

Bakura then took his empty plate and can of energy with him out of the room. Atem ate the last bit of his food and took the last few sips of his tea before he got up, walked towards the kitchen and put his empty plate and mug into the dishwasher. On the way back be redid his hair elastic.

Once he got back in his room he still felt calm. It was a reaction Bakura’s head pets had on him. He grabbed his pallet again and took another look at his painting. He still didn’t like it but after having some dinner and some time with his best friend he got the motivation back to try and make it work the way he wanted it. But first he needed his music.

He turned the volume back on before continuing with his painting. He took his brush and dipped it into the Indian Yellow and mixed it up with some Titanium White and Bright Red until he got a nice orange color. He focused on the sky until he was completely satisfied with it, after that he added some brown toned paint and began with the mountains. He felt good that things finally were going the way he wanted them to go. He painted while dancing and singing along with the Abba songs. When his favorite ABBA song, Gimme, gimme, gimme, began to play he skipped to his CD-player and gave a swing to the volume button. He then got back to the painting and got lost in his own bubble of creativity. He was enjoying painting like he always did, his favorite song making his mood so much better. More songs followed at the same volume as the time passed by.

Atem froze when there was loud knocking coming from the front door. He just realized it because of a song fading out at the end and so the knocking on the door was loud enough to come over the loud music. His heart sped up as his eyes widened in fear: this was not happening. Not now, not when Bakura wasn’t there to help him out or at least being home so Atem had some sort of support from his best friend even when he had to deal with the complaining neighbor himself.

Atem rushed towards his CD-player and turned the volume down. The knocking didn’t stop and sounded even louder now that there was no other sound in the apartment. He slowly tiptoed towards the hallway, putting his pallet on his drawing table when he passed it. He carefully walked towards the front door. Taking a deep breath, praying it were the downstairs neighbors at the door, he opened the front door.

“Do you have any idea what time it is, you imbecile!?” the man in front of him shouted, causing Atem to hide partly behind the door and looked at him with widened eyes.

It was the neighbor who lived above their apartment, a real business person, or at least that’s what Atem assumed as he always was in button up shirts, had some business like model glasses and was barely home. He was the neighbor Atem feared the most to talk to. The man was always shouting and insulting him when he came at the door for a complaint.

“I… I don’t know…” he mumbled softly. The man scoffed and rolled his eyes.  
“Geez, haven’t your parents taught you to speak up when talking? Just give me a clear answer like a normal human being.”

Atem looked down to his scapegoat slippers. This was the reason why he disliked this neighbor, he was always able to make him feel so small whenever he came down to complain. It were those moments when Atem wished he had Bakura’s attitude, as he was able to cut their neighbor off easily and didn’t tolerate someone to walk all over him like that.

“It’s 11:30 pm, people are either asleep or are going to bed. But of course a moron like you wouldn’t understand that there are people who have to wake up early in the morning!”  
“I’m sorry…” Atem said this time a little louder but didn’t look up.  
“You’re not. If you were, this wouldn’t have happened for the hundredth time. And you would look at me when apologizing.”

Atem bit on his bottom lip. He really meant his apology, but the lack of his social skills make it seem like he didn’t care. And that while he never felt like that towards other people, he just let himself go with the music.

“I really am sorry…” He repeated, this time looking up at the neighbor. “It won’t happen again.”  
“It better be, or else you have to deal with the consequences.” With that the neighbor left.

Once he had walked up the stairs Atem closed the door behind him. He let out a sigh as he leaned against the door before he slid down. He closed his eyes for a moment as he took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. Conflicts like this always had a huge effect on him especially when the other person would confirm that how he acted wasn’t normal human behavior.

He stood up once he had calmed himself down, he shuffled towards his room and opened his door. His eyes landed on his painting once again, causing his mood to die down completely as the negative thoughts resurfaced into his mind. He still hated his painting.

Without really thinking he walked towards his canvas and flipped it around, not caring that the paint was still wet. He didn’t want to see it anymore. He then walked to his bed, kicked off his scapegoat slippers and laid down hiding under the covers. He was done with today and all the negativity that had happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading Chapter 4!  
> We hope you enjoyed reading! Feel free to let us know what you think of it!  
> It's really appreciated as we both are curious what you think of it all so far!
> 
> Until next time!


End file.
